Smitty’s drawings and a cold shower

Smitty did not write home about his experience with the showers. (Unfortunately, I do not remember which island this story occurred on.)

He was coming back into camp after having a nice cold shower. He walked back with a towel wrapped around his middle and held it closed with his left hand. The jungle appeared quiet except for the buzzing of the insects whizzing around him.

He said, “You know how annoying just one mosquito can be when it’s hovering by your ears. This was like a swarm and I tried like hell to use my right hand to swat them away from my face. When I began to approach our tents there was not one man to be seen and I couldn’t imagine where they all went. As I got closer I could hear the G.I.s yelling and they were waving their arms as they crouched in their tents, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Besides, I was too preoccupied with swatting the bugs.

“When I got back to my tent complaining about how aggravating the bugs on the island were, I asked them what all the hooting and hollering was all about. All they kept doing was checking my skin and asking if I was alright.

Somebody yelled, ‘Those were no jungle bugs — that’s shrapnel!’ When they discovered that I had been hit, someone happily said that I could put in for a Purple Heart.”

WAC Invasion

After a good laugh between Dad and I, I asked if he ever put in for the medal. He laughed again and said that he was too embarrassed. “For one thing I felt stupid for not realizing what was going on and second, I didn’t want to be grouped into being one of those guys that put in for a Purple Heart every time they nicked themselves shaving. It would be like taking something away from the men who actually did get wounded and deserved the medal.”

Current News –

Proving that patriotism cannot be measured by a person’s race or culture, World War II, Korea and Vietnam War veteran Robert Nobuo Izumi has lived nearly his entire life serving our country. Izumi, who is a Japanese-American, was forced into an internment camp with his family shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In June 1944 he joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an all Japanese-American unit. Read more about Izumi’s career and his visit to Luxembourg American Cemetery to honor Patton.

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About GP Cox

Everett Smith served with the Headquarters Company, 187th Regiment, 11th A/B Division during WWII. This site is in tribute to my father, "Smitty."
GPCox is a member of the 11th Airborne Association. Member # 4511 and extremely proud of that fact!

Nothing was published except his letter “Jungle Juice” before I put them in here. Dad never felt anyone would be interested. I submitted his letter to Whistling Shade magazine when they put a call out for war stories of WWII. Smitty was creative in many ways over the years, from designing our back and front yards to remodeling in the house or drawing things out as plans or for me. He had just started getting back into actual drawing and did one painting just before he passed away. Thank you for your kind comment, Emily.

Thanks for sharing them with us. I hope you will get them bound if that is possible. These are part of your Dad’s legacy and will become treasured heirlooms to your descendants.

The only way the younger generation will know what the war was like is if we leave to them real memories, the telling from people who lived it. That immediacy lives on more than reading books by scholars or taking a college course. T

GP, And I was just thinking about YOU as this week for me to post approached! Thanks for that “Like” on my little principal’s story! I can really identify here from my Vietnam service! –That hot shower after a hard & hot day, if the water truck had delivered, & the mosquito netting &/or fan or you would be eaten alive trying to sleep!!! And a Purple Heart for shaving…..We had a guy trip on a wooded board walk on the sand going to get an M16 at the arms room during a rocket attack….Hurt his toe, just a little blood, & got a Purple Heart! The Smitty cartoons are priceless!! May you & all be well, GP!!!!!!!! Still going heavy of the old house here….now I’m taking down asbestos covering on the basement heating pipes & putting on new pipe wrap. Phil

Great story! I know I misses my dad too. He was a Navy man in WWII. He lied about his age and went in at 15. So young to experience so much. I am happy to say he is resting with my mom at Arlington National Cemetery. It was always his dream and I’m so thrilled that we could make that dream come true for him.

fun – but chilling at the same time.
laughing at the humor (and drawings) but kinda makes my heart sink with the shrapnel – reminders of the seriousness of war.
oh and the cleaning crew image was super fun – love the pose with mops and brooms….

He was very proud of what the 11th Airborne accomplished and glad he was part of it, but he never took credit for any of it. So yes, you mailed it, the Purple Heart did not fit his personality. Thanks, Bev, you put it perfectly. [sometimes I can’t find the words to explain what I mean – guess that’s why I’m NOT a professional writer, haha].

Your dad was not only a great letter writer and a cartoonist to top, but also had a great sense of humor. I bet that carried him through the war. Looking at the drawings, your dad also was a visionary and foresaw our modern times with its emphasis on gender equality in our washroom facilities. Haha!

Funny you should mention gender equality. I was just discussing dad in that vein yesterday. I tried to remember anytime at all when Smitty felt a girl was unqualified for anything – couldn’t come up with a single time. Perhaps because he grew up with his mom and grandmother and saw what they accomplished! Thanks for bringing it up, Peter.

Such a great sense of humor. His humility was endearing. My cousin was wounded three separate times in Viet Nam the last a head wound. He only got the purple heart when one of his squad members put him in for it. He never thought he deserved it. In fact he stayed in country in a field hospital to recover from the other two. The third required extensive treatment at a hospital. (Typical Marine)

The drawings are really humorous, G. Hard to imagine mistaking shrapnel for mosquito bites! Those must have been some potent insects! But then I watched a thick skinned moose in Alaska being driven nuts by bugs. It took off running to get away and then ended up rolling in a snow bank. –Curt

Now, this is an experience I never would have imagined. I live in very annoying bug country, so I sort of understand how he could have made that mistake — a swarm of what we call no-see-ums, or biting flies, and feel like a real attack. But I never, never would have throught that true schrapnel could be mistaken for them. That’s pretty darned interesting. I’m surely glad he wasn’t badly hurt!

He had a couple of scars linger on his arms, but that’s all. He said New Guinea had mosquitoes and other insects that could do a heck of a lot more damage! Hope you enjoyed your visit here today, Linda.

Your Dad had a very interesting war experience! This was quite a story.

I’ve noticed how humble and self-deprecating many Purple Heart recipients are. I had a friend who was clerk in his company in Viet Nam. He got a trivial wound in his butt when a mortar round hit his unit, and it was sufficient to get a Purple Heart.

He always felt it was a joke more than something he deserved. Regardless, he served in Viet Nam at a time when many draft age young men found ways to avoid service all together. I can respect his Purple Heart, no matter how trivial the wound or the location of the injury!

I agree. The fact is, Dad did see people get a Purple Heart for menial cuts that they most probably would have gotten at home – so he never did put in for one. Your friend on the other hand couldn’t exactly help where fate put his wound and he deserved his medal.